Most pet feeding devices are simple bowls or dishes. Dog and cat dishes are generally placed on the ground or floor with sufficient food such that some amount is often left in the dish. This leftover food or even small scraps stuck to the dish are an attractant for ants and other small crawling insects. Where the animals may be left alone for some time, there is a great temptation to overfeed and thus have excess leftover food in the pet dish. Ants invading such food render it inedible and may contaminate the food with diseases.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,301 describes a moated dog feeder comprising two feeding devices attached to a supporting frame. Each feeding device includes a removable bowl having a circumscribing flange around its top edge. The bowl fits into an annular U-shaped moat element which is supported on the frame. The frame maintains the feeding devices above a floor or other surface on which the frame rests. A spring clip is welded to the frame for supporting and retaining the moat element.
The moated dog feeder of the above patent is complicated and incorporates so many different components that its manufacturing cost is prohibitive. Furthermore, each of the different parts require disassembly in order to facilitate cleaning.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved animal feeding device which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, a need exists for a pet feeding device which deters ants or other small crawling insects from contaminating food in the device and which is simple to manufacture and clean.